View a preview of PBS’ Slavery by Another Name.
History is a fickle friend, as far as what it reveals about human nature and society. In so many times and places, the brave struggle for humanity has been kicked down, suppressed, and beaten into submission. And even after every success, the established structure inevitably finds a way to reassert control, creating the impetus for the next generation’s revolution.
But here and now, it’s easy to forget, especially if you haven’t taken the time to explore the struggles of the past, explained Allan Hancock College history department professor Roger Hall.
“I don’t really accept that idea that history repeats,” Hall said. “It’s more to me that people have to keep relearning these lessons, and then the next generation and the next, so they need to be educated as well.”
That need for education regarding the struggles of generations past is what brought a special program to the Lompoc Public Library through a National Endowment for the Humanities initiative that encourages education and community discussion of America’s civil rights history.
Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle is a film and discussion series that will run on six consecutive Tuesdays beginning May 10 and ending June 14 with each event beginning at 6 p.m. Each program includes a presentation, film screening, or both, and a discussion session with the audience. The program comes to the Lompoc Library thanks to a grant that was applied for and awarded to more than 400 institutions in the nation, explained library manager Sara Doehring,
“We’re given four films and a programming guide,” Doehring said. “In the programming guide we were encouraged to reach out to local humanities scholars to add some gravity to these discussions. We’re going to be showing clips of the films, and we have a scholar coming to each screening to talk about the themes relating to the time period and those films.”
Doehring was able to connect with Ph.D. candidates from UCSB, Laura Hooton and Holly Roose, who will present the first and last programs respectively. Roose, Doehring explained, was actually involved with the film she’s presenting, Freedom Riders, which screens June 14.
Hancock College’s professor Hall will present two films, Slavery By Another Name on May 17 and The Loving Story on May 31. Hall teaches American History among other classes at Hancock, and has done presentations for the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as led discussions following film screenings at the college.
“I find people at every age are really surprised by some of the information,” he said. “People don’t realize how interracial marriage was illegal in most every state, or they don’t realize that up until the mid-20th century that Asians couldn’t own land in California. I mean, there’s just all kinds of things.”
The first film Hall will facilitate, Slavery By Another Name, relates the practice of prison work camps, known as chain gangs, and how they were used to essentially continue the slavery of African Americans in the South following the Civil War and emancipation. The other film, The Loving Story, relates the fight for interracial marriage and people from all walks of life who fought for equal treatment under the law.
Paying attention to the famous cases is important, Hall explained, such as Sammy Davis Jr., who married Swedish-born actress May Britt in 1960, at a time when the couple couldn’t have legally married in two thirds of the states in the U.S. But more important are the common people who helped shape history, like in The Loving Story, which is about Richard and Mildred Loving, the Virginia couple that was sentenced to a year in prison for marrying and violating the Racial Integrity Act of 1924. The case went to the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia, which decided that all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States were unconstitutional.
“You have your Martin Luther King, those exceptional leaders, but the core of a civil rights movements are people who are committed to change,” Hall said. “Like Fannie Lou Hamer, who was a practically illiterate Mississippi tenant farmer who had nothing but a huge heart and determination. She became a national figure in the civil rights movement, and she could speak so eloquently because it was her heart speaking. And those were the people who make the movement.”
Two events in the series are the exception to the film-and-discussion format, Doehring said, and that includes a May 24 film screening of Freedom Summer, which relates the voting rights movement in 1964 Mississippi, without a presenter. The other event on June 7 is an Abraham Lincoln presentation with John Voehl, a Lincoln presenter and historian who performs as Lincoln, and will recreate the Emancipation Proclamation and relate the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
All the events in the Created Equal series are designed to stimulate education and dialogue for locals of various ages, Doehring explained. The series is especially geared to adults and young adults. Promoting a dialogue and historical understanding of the past helps create a more informed future, and with local scholars on board, it only helps lend potency to the quality of what’s shared at the library, Doehring said.
“It adds more historical significance, background, and information about what was going on,” she said. “Having an expert come in really makes it more well rounded and just adds another dimension.”
Arts Editor Joe Payne is always looking for that other dimension. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
VIA PBS/YOUTUBE.COM
This article appears in May 5-12, 2016.